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Finally, a job most anyone would be glad to see lost to AI: flossing.
Dyson this week unveiled an AI-powered toothbrush that it says provides a complete brushing, precision-flossing and mouth-rinsing routine at once.
The Dyson CameraJet toothbrush is the first foray into oral care for a company known for harnessing the power of air, be it in a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer or a purifier, reports Katie Deighton. This endeavor involved a team of engineers working to manipulate that other classic element, liquid.
They developed a pump mechanism and gravity-free tank that works no matter what angle the brush is held at to control the flow. The brush head features a tiny camera that analyzes 28 live images a second to identify gaps in the teeth, triggering a conical burst of mouth rinse that flosses in between. (Dyson's special non-foaming toothpaste is sold separately.)
So, for $499, can you give a minty-fresh kiss goodbye to traditional flossing? The company stops short of characterizing the machine as a wholesale replacement for the analog string in all cases. But given that only about 30% of adults over the age of 30 floss the recommended daily, it's doing a job most aren't anyway.
🎥 How Dyson's Founder Picks What to Invent Next (Watch)
🎧 The Fight Over Fluoride (Listen)
Your Mouth Could Hold the Secrets to a Longer and Healthier Life (Read)
$28 Toothpaste? $14 Dental Floss? Dental Products Get the Luxury Treatment (Read)
🤔 What do you think of using AI to brush (and floss) your teeth? Send me your thoughts, questions and predictions at future@wsj.com. Include your full name and state, and we might publish your response in a coming edition. (If you're reading this in your inbox, you can just hit reply.)
More of What's Next
🎥 Watch this doctor reveal the lifesaving secrets behind hospital design. Dr. Ben Bassin explains why going to the ER feels so chaotic-and how design can help make it better.
Can Apple's new CEO rev up the Steve Jobs innovation engine? To help the company reach new heights, John Ternus must take it beyond the supply chain mastery of Tim Cook.
New building techniques are turbocharging the data-center boom. Hyperscalers' need for speed is spawning timesaving products and building techniques.
Future Feedback
Last week, we reported on the techlash against Flock Safety's AI-enabled license-plate reader cameras. Readers shared their thoughts about the cameras and other public-safety surveillance.
"These surveillance systems, even if we assume for a moment they are well intentioned, have already been used to exceed the benign scope of merely tracking potential criminal activity. The inevitable overreach by authorities and the very real possibility that they can be hacked and used improperly by a malicious agent makes transparency and safeguards a practical nightmare and impossibility." -Steve Turco, Texas
"Driving is a privilege, not a right. Enforcement took a hit during Covid and some people decided to ignore the rules and drive as they wanted, excess speed being only one example. Much of that behavior remains; it is selfish and dangerous. So, yes, I think traffic cameras are appropriate. Technology needs to be a much larger part of our lives on the road, including automatic maximum speed control on city streets and highways, not just citations for running a light. If you need to get to work on time, get up earlier." -Jim Cook, California
"I've sent several FOIA requests to my city. Its own written police order requires officers to enter a case number and a reason for every search. Looking at the entire year of 2025 audit logs, the case number field is blank in over 86% of searches, and the quarterly audits the order requires don't exist. This failure is tolerated. As for the future, with the company going public, what would capitalism demand? Images are deleted, but what about the metadata? In an effort to maximize profits, will your timestamped, location-stamped travel history be sold to the highest bidder?" -Ed Golowacz, Illinois
"I think that giving up the privacy of my license plate is far less important than the ability to capture criminals." -Sandy Krause, California
"The potential for misuse far outweighs the benefits. This is a 'greater good' issue and involves individual privacy which has been seriously eroding for more than 30 years. Security cameras everywhere, social network hacks, stolen identity, internet and phone scams, big-data profiling. In short, Big Brother has no boundaries. It's time to take control back to the people, where it belongs." -William Shields, California
"I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority, but I endorse Flock cameras or any public surveillance methods. They are proven to help authorities catch criminals. I don't have anything to hide. I'm not worried about Big Brother knowing where I've been. The positives outweigh the negatives for honest people." -Paul Kent, Washington
(Responses have been condensed and edited.)
Elsewhere in the Future
This El Niño Will Be Unlike Any in the Past Eight Decades (The Atlantic)
How Engineered Microbes Could Help Feed the World's Crops (MIT Technology Review)
Is This the Future of America? Data Centers in Loudoun County, Virginia (The Verge)
About Us
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